Neal due back in Poconos in Sancho murder

Joe McDonald

Tuesday

Jun 25, 2019 at 5:05 PMJun 25, 2019 at 7:07 PM

The man accused of killing his girlfriend and dumping her body off the side of a rural road near Bushkill is scheduled to be returned Thursday to the Poconos from New York City, where he was caught following a police chase three weeks ago near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Gerald Neal, 43, of the Falls at Saw Creek in Pike County, is facing homicide charges in Monroe County for allegedly shooting Jeanette Sylvia Sancho in the back of the head and disposing of her body, face down with no shirt and no shoes, in a wooded area along a stream near a driveway off Lower Lake View Drive. A resident of the area spotted the body June 1 and called the police.

Sancho lived with Neal at Neal's mother's house at the Falls at Saw Creek. When investigators went to the home they were unable to find Neal, officials said.

While officials could not locate Neal they did pick up on the movements of his car, which was spotted in Virginia and later in New York City, where he was arrested after police disabled his car. Police also spotted an AK-47 rifle on the front seat.

After his arrest Neal decided not to fight extradition back to Pennsylvania, said David Ocasio, a Queens County, N.Y., attorney representing Neal. Ocasio said Neal waived his right to take his case through what could be a lengthy extradition process, which lawyers said could have taken months.

Ocasio said Pennsylvania state police were going to be "picking him up Thursday."

Neal will be arraigned on criminal homicide, abuse of corpse and related offenses before District Justice Brian Germano.

Because bail is not granted in homicide cases he will be committed to Monroe County Correctional Facility.

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